[Toy Review] [Bootleg?] CLOUD STRIFE VER.2 - Final Fantasy VII Remake Play Arts Kai

Yay! A Play Arts Kai action figure review, but it's a bootleg/knockoff... or isn't? I don't know, hence the big "?" behind the bootleg stamp on the title pic above. Because for a knockoff, it's pretty great. Anyway, it's Cloud Strife, the spikey-haired protagonist from Final Fantasy VII Remake, this is version 2 (ver.2) of this action figure. They released an older version of him after the early announcement of the game's remake few years ago.

"Survival can be a matter of luck or skill.

And you can't rely on luck."

~ Cloud Strife ~

PACKAGING

Box: front

The image quality of the box is lower and slightly darker than the authentic PAK packaging, but the box's cardboard and plastic quality is at par with the original. The front of the box is missing the red, triangular Arts logo and the holographic authenticity sticker. The "PLAY ARTS KAI" logo is correct this time, not "PIAY ARTS KAI" as most bootleg PAKs are named. In front, we see a large image of Cloud.

Box: back

The back shows more product images of the figure.

Box: bottom

The bottom of the box doesn't have the Arts logo and it's missing the engraved serial number. The box have a small seal that says that this PAK figure is a "Certified High Quality KO" and it's "Quality Guaranteed. Wow, the bootleggers are really proud on this one. Well the action figure is pretty great in quality, I'll give them that.

Front cover opened

You can read the texts at the left hand side and view the figure and all the other stuff inside the box at the right if you open the front cover. 

Time to do some merc work.

Packaging includes:
- Cloud Strife ver.2 figure
- Buster Sword
- Back mounting peg for the Buster Sword
- L/R open hands
- L/R gripping hands
- L/R tilted down gripping hands

- Display stand

THE FIGURE

Viewing Cloud ver.2

The figure's looks and quality is really great for a knockoff. I'm starting to think that this is a factory reject and not an actual bootleg, just repackaged as one.

Is that a face of a knockoff?

Look at the face. It looks amazing. It's not deformed like the bootlegs. The eyes looks great and the spikey hair is really detailed. The left ear have a small earring. The face have nice skin tone. The headsculpt is one of what's different in ver.2

Cloud's SOLDIER uniform

Cloud is wearing his SOLDIER uniform. It's slightly different than those the actual SOLDIERs wear. It's really detailed, especially the sleeveless turtle neck top that have the knitted look. The straps are detailed too and have some silver studs. I don't know but why is this figure have dark, almost black uniform. In the game you can see the uniform is dark blue. Still, this figure have dark blue paint washes all over the uniform.

SOLDIER uniform back

The back features a large circular buckle. It's interchangeable, I'll talk about this part later.

Shoulder armor

Cloud's shoulder armor is detailed, you can see that it looks worn/deteriorated because of the cracks. It got a single large silver stud (or a stylish rivet) with three smaller studs in front and back of the shoulder armor. It also have three gun metal colored large screws and locknuts. The shoulder armor is made of hard plastic and it's glued on the upper torso's strip of soft/flexible plastic.

Right arm

Both arms looks fine but the extra plastic mold marks on the left and right bicep are noticeable, fixable by sanding them. The right arm have long gloves and a smaller metal band. The right hand part doesn't have any studs.

Left arm

The left arm have bandaged forearm under a large metal band. The left hand have silver studs. The bandage have black paint wash.

SOLDIER belt

The belt is a single free-floating piece. It looks like they're two pieces because the larger belt and the two smaller belts splits up depending on how the figure is posed. If you look at the back of the belts you can see that they're made as a single piece. The belts are detailed and it got a large SOLDIER emblem. The belt buckles of the two smaller belts are painted silver.

Cloud's pants

The pants are baggy. It's detailed with wrinkles and got a rough texture. It got side pockets.

Back of the baggy pants

The back of the pants have two back pockets. The right leg have embossed texts and they're clear and very readable, again, unlike the bootlegs that sometimes doesn't have these texts on the figure.

Cloud's boots

The zipped boots looks good, really detailed and their zipper are painted silver.

Bottom of the boot

The bottom of the boots are treaded.

ACCESSORIES

This PAK action figure of Cloud have the basic accessories. He got his Buster Sword, a pegged mounting stud and a total of six extra hands.

Cloud's accessories

These are pretty nice and I can't think of anything to add here equipment-wise. But for interchangeable parts, I wish they made another headsculpt with a different facial expression.

Buster Sword

The Buster Sword is huge, larger than the ver.1 Buster Sword. It's also larger than Zack's Buster Sword. The sword looks great. The sharp edge is silver with some painted scratch marks, The blunt side of the sword is gun metal. The sword cross guard and pommel is a lighter shade of gun metal. And the grip is leathery brown in color.

Buster Sword up close

The details look great. The sword have cyberpunk-like grooves and linings on the blunt area of the sword. The two Materia slots looks good. If you look closely, you'll notice that rust-colored paintwash is applied on the sword.

Extra hands

These extra hands looks good sculpt and paint-wise but they all got the same issue. Their peg holes are small and doesn't fit on the pegs of the wrist ball-hinges. You have to carefully make the holes big enough for the hands to fit on the pegs of the wrist ball-hinges by using a drill or small screwdriver. It's a tedious work but I payed less for this figure so can't complain much.

Pegged stud piece

Cloud got an extra pegged stud piece so that you can mount the Buster Sword on his back. 

Default buckle stud.

If you want to mount the Buster Sword on Cloud's back then remove the default one...

Pegged stud piece attached.

...then peg in the pegged stud piece.

Buster Sword mounted

Now you can mount the Buster Sword on Cloud's back.

Back-mounted Buster Sword in full view

It's a really tight fit and holds the big heavy sword pretty well. I'm not gonna use this because I might loose it later. So I switched it back to the default one.

Display stand

PAK Cloud ver.2 have a newer PAK display stand. The quality of this stand and its two different sized clamps are excellent.

ARTICULATIONS

Cloud firmly holding a Materia.

The articulations of this Cloud ver.2 figure is the same as ver.1. It retains the old ball-hinged shoulder joints and elbows.

Chill pose

The head is on a double ball peg. The head can look around pretty well. The neck is also articulated also via double ball peg. It really helps the head to move more.

Serious and brooding

The shoulders have ball-hinges. It makes both arms have a hard time raising way up. I had difficulties making him do a Braver move pose. But both arms can raise to the side pretty well and have little movement when making the the arms shift forward and back.

Getting the Buster Sword from his back.

Both arms have bicep swivel, they work fine. The elbows and wrists uses ball-hinges for articulation. The forearms can swivel on this joint and the wrist ball-hinges moves well.

Cloud's favorite pose

The upper torso is on a double ball peg and it's kinda loose if you wiggle the figure. Still, the upper torso can hold a pose well and not flop down even when Cloud is holding the heavy Buster Sword. It can turn side to side, tilt left and right, do ab crunches well and go back with nice movement range.

Holding the Buster Sword using both hands.

Waist articulation is pretty good, no complaints here.

Focused pose

Even though this figure have baggy pants, the leg articulation have nice movement. Cloud can't do the splits but he can do some nice kicks. The legs can raise forward about 90 degrees, and can move a little backwards. The legs have two thigh swivel joints one at the crotch joints and one on the lap and I don't like these lap swivel joints, they ruin the look of the pants. It works well on some figures but not for some that have detailed pants. It depends on the character design.

Defensive stance

The knees are double-hinged. They have great bending range but looks ugly when the knees are fully bent, exposing some gaps and cavities around them.

Charging towards his foe.

Both feet have ball-hinges and they work pretty well. Both feet can point up and down and swivel without any problems. And they can pivot too.

Helm splitter

Both feet have toe hinges for more articulation.

SCALING

Time to compare "bootleg?" PAK Cloud's height with some of my authentic PAK figures.

FFVII Remake party

Let's compare him first with the other FFVII Remake figures. As you can see, Cloud is taller than Aerith (FF7R) and Tifa (FF7R).

Cloud v Cloud

Here's Cloud next to his future self. Both Cloud (FFVIIR) and Cloud (FFVII:AC) have the same height.

Main protag bois of FF7

Both Vincent (DoC) and Zack (CC) are taller than Cloud.

Noctis, Cloud and Sora

Noctis (FFXV) is slightly taller than Cloud. Sora (KH3D) is super short.

The protagonists of their own Final Fantasy title

Here's Cloud with the Dissidia Party. Cloud is the taller than Terra (Dissidia NT), Squall (Dissidia NT) and Lightning (Dissidia NT).

QUALITY ISSUES

This Cloud "bootleg?" PAK figure have some issues that I already mentioned. Most of them are pretty minor and can also be found on some authentic PAK figures (depends on luck). I'll list them here for quick summary.

- Kinda loose upper torso

- The peg holes of all extra hands are small, they don't fit on the wrist ball-hinges (needs some tedious work)

- Both biceps have extra mold plastic (easily fixable)

CONCLUSION

That concludes my review of the "bootleg?" Final Fantasy VII Remake Play Arts Kai action figure of Cloud Strife ver.2. I don't really consider this action figure a bootleg, it's more like a factory reject figure that the bootleggers got their hands on and repackaged and sold it for a low price. It looks really amazing and the quality is great. You can't tell if it's a bootleg or authentic if I showed it to you guys without mentioning it (a kinda good or lame April Fools joke). Even with the issues that I found on this Cloud figure, I think this is a solid cheap purchase (around 70% cheaper than the authentic). This is a welcome addition to my collection. I think I won't buy the authentic figure now, I'm happy and satisfied with this "knockoff?". I recommend this if you want a Cloud PAK action figure but don't have enough money to buy the authentic one. Just be careful on buying one, especially online. I bought this online and the seller is kind enough to show this figure's actual photos before deciding to buy it.

Here's a quick photo edit I made for Cloud ver.2 PAK.

He's probably on top of a Mako Reactor or on a high part of the Shinra Tower doing his epic pose.

Cheers and Happy Collecting!

MORE CLOUD!

Toy Review - Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) Play Arts Kai action figure

Toy Review - Cloud Strife Trading Arts Kai Mini action figure

Toy Review - Cloud Strife (Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia) Trading Arts